Environment news

• UK farmers to get more help from overseas workers for 2021 harvest

  22-12-2020 21:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Government will allow 30,000 EU and non-EU workers to help pick and pack fruit and vegetablesThe government is to allow farmers to bring in 30,000 seasonal workers from overseas in 2021 – three times more than this year – to help pick and pack fruit and vegetables.The extension of the seasonal agricultural workers’ scheme, which will apply to EU and non-EU workers after the end of freedom of movement from Europe in January, comes after a difficult harvest in 2020 during which f
  
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• Flood alerts issued for England and Wales as heavy rain forecast

  22-12-2020 20:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Disruption expected, with 24-hour yellow weather warning in place from 6am on WednesdayFlood alerts have been issued across England and Wales ahead of heavy rain forecast for the run-up to Christmas, as the Met Office issued a weather warning after downpours over the weekend.A yellow weather warning for rain in mid and south Wales, as well as southern England, is in place from 6am on Wednesday until 6am Thursday, with 50mm to 70mm of rain expected to fall in south Wales. Disruption to travel and
  
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• Net-zero targets, virtual climate events and green recovery debates: The sustainability stories of 2020

  22-12-2020 16:29
  
  With less than a week until Christmas, edie recaps what has been a busy year for sustainability stories, from the growing green recovery movement to the election of Joe Biden.
  
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• Listen up: making music from the northern lights

  22-12-2020 14:08 via theguardian.com
  
  A biologist and composer have turned the aurora borealis into sound to create a magic melding of art and natureThere’s a hypnotic crackle before a whoosh of sound flies from ear to ear. It’s followed by a heavenly chorus that might be whales whistling, frogs calling or the chirping of an alien bird. It sounds celestial because that’s what it is. The noise is the aurora borealis: the northern lights. The vivid green lights that trace across the Arctic sky emit electromagnetic wa
  
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• Ancient mummified wolf cub in Canada 'lived 56,000 years ago'

  22-12-2020 12:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists say the cub, which died about 56,000 years ago, is "the most complete wolf mummy known".
  
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• Ministers urged to cut VAT on batteries for homes after Brexit

  22-12-2020 11:55
  
  The UK should reverse the increase on home energy storage systems implemented by the EU last year after Brexit, trade bodies representing the energy industry have told ministers.
  
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• Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies

  22-12-2020 11:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Health impact is unknown but scientists say particles may cause long-term damage to foetusesMicroplastic particles have been revealed in the placentas of unborn babies for the first time, which the researchers said is “a matter of great concern”.The health impact of microplastics in the body is as yet unknown. But the scientists said they could carry chemicals that could cause long-term damage or upset the foetus’s developing immune system. The particles are likely to have been
  
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• ‘Forever chemicals’ pollute water from Alaska to Florida

  22-12-2020 11:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Whichever state you are in, there could be harmful PFAS chemicals in water near youTom Kennedy learned about the long-term contamination of his family’s drinking water about two months after he was told that his breast cancer had metastasized to his brain and was terminal.The troubles tainting his tap: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a broad category of chemicals invented in the mid-1900s to add desirable properties such as stain-proofing and anti-sticking to shoes, cookware an
  
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• Zero Carbon Forum: UK's biggest restaurants team up to plot pathway to net-zero

  22-12-2020 11:09
  
  Nando's, Burger King, KFC and Pizza Express are among the first business members of a new hospitality industry coalition that is plotting a pathway to net-zero for the sector.
  
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• Dewley Hill: Newcastle City Council blocks controversial coal mine

  22-12-2020 10:39
  
  Climate campaigners have expressed relief after an application to turn more than 250 acres of greenbelt land near Newcastle into an opencast coal mine was blocked.
  
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• 'We wanted to work the land with our kids': the Black US farmers reclaiming the soil

  22-12-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A fledgling movement towards Black-owned farms seeks to address the the lack of land ownership and fresh food in many communities of colorMalcolm Shabazz Hoover is rattling off his vegetable varieties to two potential customers from a local restaurant.“It’s called Brassica juncea, a west African mustard green,” Hoover says to Marissa Lorette and Ian Watson, co-owners of BeesWing, a local restaurant looking to work with Black businesses. He picks some from the ground and offers
  
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• Curiosity killed the wolf – and fuelled an anti-hunting petition in Canada

  22-12-2020 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Artists and campaigners work to ensure the life and death of the lone sea wolf known as Takaya was not wastedCanada mourns Takaya – the lone sea wolf whose spirit captured the worldRead more in our series Biodiversity: what happened next?For the second time in less than a year, residents of Victoria in western Canada have found themselves in thrall to a wolf. Standing in a hotel lobby, this wolf is a mixture of driftwood, sea shells and dried kelp. Weighing nearly 70kg (150lbs) and standin
  
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• 2020: a truly unimaginable year for biodiversity

  22-12-2020 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The Guardian’s biodiversity editor looks back on a year that put the state of the planet on the agenda in ways no one could have foreseenRead more in our series Biodiversity: what happened next?The year 2020 was always destined to be a crucial one for biodiversity, with the Cop15 conference in Kunming, China scheduled for October, at which the international community was expected to agree a Paris-style agreement for nature. But the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic across the world force
  
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• Yorkshire swimming spot to get bathing water status in UK first

  22-12-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners in Ilkley hope River Wharfe designation will ‘trigger a clean-up’ of local sewage systemA stretch of river in Yorkshire will become the first in the UK to be given bathing water status in a major success for campaigners trying to stop releases of untreated sewage into inland waters.Part of the River Wharfe in Ilkley, which is a popular swimming and paddling spot, is to be added to the list of bathing waters next year, after months of campaigning. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: a hint of Britain's military past in this old wood

  22-12-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Old Sulehay, Northamptonshire: Partially concealed concrete floors and bricks are scattered among the autumn leavesUnder the great grey beeches at the western end of this Wildlife Trust reserve, a narrow muddy trail branches off the main ride and winds along the northern edge of the wood.A hefty chunk of white porcelain is the first indication of a history slowly being absorbed by brambles and trees. Partially concealed concrete floors, bricks, broken toilets and fragments of cast iron are scatt
  
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• Christmas star: Jupiter and Saturn align in the night sky

  22-12-2020 04:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jupiter and Saturn - the Solar System's largest planets - have crossed paths in the night sky.
  
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• The nature of the Norwegian lemming: 'bloodthirsty, hairy berserkers' | Helen Sullivan

  22-12-2020 01:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The lemmings didn’t jump – they were pushedThe Nature of ... is a column dedicated to interesting animals, insects, plants and natural phenomenaA Norwegian lemming looks like a larger, slightly cleverer and much more irate hamster. Their underside fur is biscuit-coloured. On top they wear a mottled calico.The BBC, in a 2015 documentary episode in which a lemming repeatedly charges a full-sized house cat – and then attacks the rock on to which the house cat has leapt in fear &nd
  
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• The nature of the Norwegian lemming: 'bloodthirsty, hairy berserker' | Helen Sullivan

  22-12-2020 01:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The lemmings didn’t jump – they were pushedThe Nature of ... is a column dedicated to interesting animals, insects, plants and natural phenomenaA Norwegian lemming looks like a larger, slightly cleverer and much more irate hamster. Their underside fur is biscuit-coloured. On top they wear a mottled calico.The BBC, in a 2015 documentary episode in which a lemming repeatedly charges a full sized house cat – and then attacks the rock on to which the house cat has leapt in fear &nd
  
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• Covid: Wuhan scientist would 'welcome' visit probing lab leak theory

  22-12-2020 00:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A top Chinese scientist addresses claims the coronavirus leaked from her lab in the city of Wuhan.
  
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